Sign the new will," he quoted.
He came close to her and whispered. "That means thousands of
dollars to you and Vance," he urged.
The girl turned and regarded him with unhappy, angry eyes.
"You need not be frightened,:" she answered. For the man before
her and for herself, her voice was bitter with contempt and
self- accusation. "Mr. Winthrop is mistaken. He does not know
me," she said miserably. "I shall not fail."
For a moment, after she had left him, Gaylor stood motionless,
his eyes filled with concern, and then, with a shrug, as though
accepting either good or evil fortune, he called from the
bedroom Mr. Hallowell, and, from the floor below, the guests of
Hallowell and of Vance.
As Hallowell, supported by Rainey, sank into the invalid's chair
in the centre of the semicircle, Gaylor made his final appeal.
"Stephen," he begged, "are you sure you're feeling strong
enough? Won't some other night -- " The old man interrupted him
querulously.
"No, now!" I want it over," he commanded. "Who knows," he
complained, "how soon it may be before -- "
The sight of Mannie entering the room with Vance caused him to
interrupt himself abruptly. He greeted the showman with a curt
nod.
"And who is this?" he demanded. Mannie, to whom a living
millionaire was much more of a disturbing spectacle than the
ghost of Alexander the Great, retreated hastily behind Vance.
"He is my assistant," Vance explained. "He furnishes the music.
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